Summer living

Can it really be two months since the last update? So much has happened. This is the last picture we took of London in Berkeley, taking a nap on the futon.


I filed my dissertation on May 17 and graduated on May 18. Here I am with my labmates Jackie Moustakas and Andrew Lee, who also graduated. (The reason my robe is black instead of blue is that I got a rental; I didn't care, what matters is that the darn diss. is gone forever.)


Mom and Dad came out for graduation and we went to the Western Air Museum in Oakland. They loved it, and London always has a good time there.


We moved to Merced at the end of May, and June 3 was my birthday. We had a picnic in the city park and rode the train.


Naturally that's about as good as it gets in London's world.


That night London and Mumpa sang me happy birthday.


Last night we went out for our 11th anniversary and afterwards we went to Target to get some stuff for the house. This little pool was twenty bucks. London helped me fill it.


Thomas got a bath.


After he got his hands wet London went over to this tree and wiped his hands on the leaves and said "towel". I couldn't tell if he meant he was using the tree as a towel, or just pretending that three was a towel. He picks imaginary grapes out of trees all the time, and we sit on the grass and eat them.


This gives you some idea of the size of our back yard. Also at Target we got a one dollar plastic boat. London remembered it and had to go get it to put in the pool.


The back yard from the other side. It's pretty grotesque how much space we have, and how little we're paying for it. Lawn care is included in our rent. Merced charges everyone the same flat rate for water, no matter how much you use, so I don't even feel bad about all that nice green grass. As long as we're getting nailed for it, we might as well get to enjoy it. (Everyone else in the neighborhood waters a lot more than we do--kinda disgusting actually.)


In goes the boat!


In go the boys!


Best twenty bucks I ever spent.


And now here we are, settling into our new home, but some things stay the same no matter where we go.